It Was A Merry Christmas!

We returned home tonight from our Christmas holiday travels.  We left Wednesday morning and went to Abilene to get ready for the Christmas Eve festivities at Granny's house.  The weather gave us a nice suprise, a white Christmas Eve.  The snow did keep Jeff, Tami, and Cody from being able to come, but we did get to have Christmas with them this afternoon.

Caroling before opening presents.

Joey reliving his childhood.  It is a long story but a funny present!

Jaden and Jaxon got these from scooters for Christmas.  Since the ground was covered in snow, we decided to try them out on the kitchen floor.  I had to get in on the fun!

Thursday afternoon we scraped the snow off the car and headed to Snyder.  It did take us a little longer to get there because of the road conditions, but we made it safely!  Christmas morning we woke up and had Christmas with Mom and Dad.  I did not get any pictures of opening presents, but Joey and I did pose by the tree.

We also tried to pose in front of the snow covered tree at Gran's house, but the sun reflecting off the snow made it hard for us to keep our eyes open!

Christmas afternoon the gang all arrived!  Gran's house was full of fun and food!

By the end of the day, there were 19 adults and 2 cute little girls at Gran's house.  We had lots of fun opening presents, cooking, eating, cleaning and playing.  Abbye had her first lesson in playing 42.

Cade and Kyla arrived with some exciting news!  They are engaged!

There were lots of happy squeals with all the Crenshaw women in one room!  We are so glad that Kyla will be joining the family!

On Saturday, we went over to the West's house to see what Santa brought Jaden and Jaxon and to play with the Wii that the boys got from Jason and Jami. There was some serious Wii playing going on! Jami defended her title on Toy Story Mania against Joey, Jaden, and Jaxon.

We are so blessed with wonderful families and had a wonderful time with them this Christmas!  Now onto the Christmas de-decorating and checking off the "to-do" list to get ready for the new year!

Merry Christmas from Our House to Yours!

Hope this finds you enjoying the season!  We have had a fun and busy holiday so far and are looking forward to seeing family and friends.  Just wanted to share some Christmas cheer from our house.

The Dining Room Tree

Our New Living Room Tree

After much looking and much debate I am so glad I got this one!  It is so pretty! 

We have presents under our tree, and beside our tree...

Our New TV and Entertainment Center

We got the TV for Christmas from Mom and Dad early this year - the day after Thanksgiving.  Then we had to have something to set the new TV on, so Joey and I gave each other the entertainment center for early Christmas to each other!  Joey enjoyed watching football games and I have enjoyed watching all the great Christmas movies that have been on TV!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and your family!

Becoming a Student Again!

The last 2 weeks have been busy as I have been researching different programs and filling out my application and paperwork for my master's degree.  I have officially been accepted to the Master's of Education in Leadership of Learning from Abilene Christian University!  I will begin courses in January and will take a course for 7 weeks followed by a week off for the next two years and will graduate in December 2011.  All of the courses are online, so I can do the coursework from home or from wherever our schedule takes me and my laptop! 

Cowboys' Stadium

While Joey was off in Washington with the Texan football team, I headed to Cowboy Stadium to see the other football team in town, the Stephenville Yellowjackets.  We usually do not go to the yellowjacket games because we get our football fill on Saturday.  Okay, so Joey can probably never get his fill of football, so all those "we"s should be "I"s. Although, I will admit I have really enjoyed football this year! 


Chris and Karen Cox and the fan full of jacket supporters met me after school and we headed to Jerry's World.  We were there before the gates opened at 6:00, so we had plenty of time to take it all in before kickoff at 7:30.  I took lots of pictures.  I had to make my photographer husband proud!  Plus, I did need proof that I had been there before him!  Who would have ever thought that would happen!  (Not that I would rub that in or anything!)

View from the 3rd row

Looking up from the 3rd row

The roof opening - It began to rain and it still kept going.  Then after a little bit they closed it back up.  I am convinced that it was Jerry and his people trying to show off. Why else would they open it up when it was cool and rainy?

I went up to the second level to get a picture of the whole field.  The 2nd level was as high as you could go.  I am thankful for that!  I really did not enjoy being up that high.  I can't imagine sitting up at the very top!

The Big Screen - Even though I could see everything on the field great, I still caught myself looking up to the big screen.  It was fun to watch on it!

It was fun to go to the game and to get to see the impressive Cowboys' Stadium.  At $10 a ticket, a high school playoff game is definitely the way to go see a game there.  I have no desire to go see a Cowboys' game with all those people.  I would get sick sitting as high up as I would have to for the price I would be willing to pay.  Stephenville and Aledo did a good job of filling up the sections that were available and made for a great game even though the Yellowjackets lost in overtime.  The atmosphere was fun, exciting, and very loud (my ears were still ringing when I woke up this morning!). 


PS - I posted this blog after updating the posting part of blogger.  It is much easier to post pictures.  The picture inserts where the cursor is instead of at the top.  It is so much easier!  The downside is that I do not see a spell checker, and we all know I am a terrible speller!  (Sorry Mom, I guess you will have to call me and tell me my mistakes!)  Anyway, some of you may have already known about the update, but just in case you haven't you might want to update yours.

Exciting Times

The buzz at our house...Tarleton football's impressive double overtime playoff game win against TAMUK! I won't write the details out for you. Joey has done a wonderful job of that in more than one place. If you're interested in the game story click here - http://www.tarletonsports.com/news/2009/11/14/FB_1114092633.aspx or you can watch the video highlights from the Corpus TV station http://www.kiiitv.com/sports/local/70154002.html

The excitement has put Tarleton on the national radar with references in the USA Today and on ESPN. The sportscaster on ESPN even referred to the game as "one of the greatest college football games". To watch the clip from ESPN - http://www.tarletonsports.com/news/2009/11/16/FB_1116094620.aspx
or you can come on over because of course it is saved on our TiVo and probably will be for years to come.

So now on to Ellensburg, WA to play Central Washington University this Saturday. Tonight I helped Joey look through his closet for warm clothes. The high is only supposed to be 41 degrees with a chance of rain or snow. A little different from the almost 90 degrees and sunburn from this past Saturday in Kingsville. The weather may be different, but hopefully the outcome the same!

Found the Camera, But Didn't Use It!

So one reason for the lack of blogging lately is because I was not sure where the camera was. It usually stays in my purse and I knew it wasn't there but didn't really think it was lost just did not know where it was. Now I do! We went to the State Fair at the end of September and yesterday, a month later, the bag that we took with us came out of the car. There inside it was the camera!

I should have used it the last 2 weekends as we have had fun with family the last 2 weekends!

Last weekend we headed to the Lubbock/Muleshoe/Portales area. As you all know, most of our weekend travel is arranged around Tarleton Athletic events. Tarleton played football in Portales, so we also got to go to Lubbock and Muleshoe. We went to Lubbock Friday night and had a great time visiting and playing with Charlie, Amy and Abbye. Then Saturday morning we all went to Muleshoe to Gary and Hollye's. It was Joey's first visit to the farm. We also got to see their almost finished new house. Sunday morning we went to church and Leal's (a Muleshoe after church tradition). Then we began our trip home with stops back in Lubbock and Snyder. It was all fun times!

This weekend, Bill and Donna and Jason, Jami, Jaden, and Jaxon came for the weekend and to watch the Tarleton vs ACU football game. We had a great time! We had fun playing Wii and watching the Wii players! Jaxon and I made a pumpkin cake and he helped cook lunch. We did have toys at our house this time too, so they did not have to play with the laundry baskets and a ball like the first time they came to our house. However, the boys did have a great time playing with the flyswatters! Jami did use her camera, so maybe when she post her blog about the weekend I can still some pictures!

Sorry for the longs post without pictures! If you read it all, thanks I'm impressed! The camera is now back in my purse, so I will hopefully have some pictures next time!

And now on to more important things...

Well, I noticed my lovely wife has left the "Recognition" post up for a while, and I do thank everyone for their kind words. I will say it is nice to be recognized, but my job is to recognize and bring attention to our student-athletes and our University - that is what I enjoy doing. But thanks!

Now, on to the more important thing:

Leslye and I just wanted to say congratulations to our brother-in-law, Jason West. He was installed as a deacon on Sunday at the 37th Street congregation in Snyder. We were not there to witness the event, but I do know that we wish we could have been there.

Several years ago, my sister started dating this guy, and although I was younger, I still wanted to be protective of my sisters - still am to a degree. I believe the story I remember is this guy kept hounding her to go out with him, and she finally said, "yes." And I guess, after a bit, the rest is history.

I remember still being in junior high and high school, and I would spend the summers at Granny and Grandad's. Jason also lived in Abilene and was playing baseball at ACU, even in the summer. I remember one instance where I was there watching him play, and in between games (or after, I can't remember) he took me in his yellow, convertible bug to Sonic. I also spent some time at his apartment during the summer just "hanging" out. I thought that it was pretty cool that he liked me enough to spend time with me, even though I was the "little brother." Or maybe it was because Jami asked him to do it. Little did he know, I was checking him out just as much as he probably was me.

The thing was, I always wanted to a) be a big brother, and b) have a big brother. Well, I guess the closest to being a big brother I got growing up was being protective of my older sisters, but Jason was my first big brother (and now I have Jeff, too), and I could never thank him enough for being a great one!

We have spent a lot of fun times over the years, playing sports, playing games, traveling, Rangers' games, singing, etc. But most importantly, I have watched him be a great husband to my sister and a wonderful dad to my nephews. He is a great Christian role model to a lot of people, including me.

I thank God for bringing Him to my family. I have no doubt in my heart that Jason lives for the Greatest One of All each and every day, and that he displays his love for God in the way he lives his life.

People can be chosen to represent the church by being selected as an elder or a deacon, but I truly believe that we should all live our lives as if we have that "title." One shouldn't change because the church asks them to serve. One should be asked because he has served. It's not a change of life when called upon, but it's because you have changed lives that you have called upon.

I truly believe one of the greatest things a man is called to do is serve as an elder or deacon in the church. I have watched my grandfather serve as an elder, my father serve as both an elder and a deacon, my father-in-law serve as an elder, and now I am blessed to watch Jason serve as a deacon. I have longed to be able to do just that, and one day, Lord willing, He will call me to that service, too.

Although this post ended up being longer than what I intended (but then again, who's surprised?) I just want Jason and the rest of the world to know that we are proud of him.

Jason, Leslye and I love you, and I am so very proud to call you much more than my brother-in-law. You're my brother in Christ.

And if it's OK with you, let's just drop the in-law part.

Recognition

Joey has been recognized by the Tarleton President and the Board of Regents. He received a framed certificate last Saturday before the football game. I was not there to see him get the certificate, so I didn't get to take a picture. Lack of communication from husband to wife, but we won't dwell on that! :)

Check out the press release on the Tarleton website: http://www.tarleton.edu/scripts/press/display.asp?id=2817. A press release that he didn't actually have to write himself!

So proud of him and his accomplishments! It is well deserved!

Healing

All week I have felt like I should post something as a closure to our last few posts, but wasn't sure where to start or what to say. I definitely do not have the way with words that Joey does, but it is something that I wanted to do and needed to do...so here it goes.

Thank you for your encouraging comments, thoughts and prayers. Many times, I have gone back and read the comments. It has helped to know how much love surrounds us. We are healing and continue to heal. I feel like I have healed physically (we'll see what the doctor thinks on Tuesday), and I am back to my normal routine. We continue to heal emotionally with each sunrise and sunset. Each day it gets easier.

The last 3 weeks have been the most difficult in my life. I am thankful to my family and friends who have supported me and helped me through these weeks. I am most thankful to my wonderful husband who has loved me, held me, cried with me, and who has been there for me and with me. Our marriage and love for each other is stronger because of this experience. We know that God has a plan for us and all though we may not understand why things happen, He knows. We pray that one day He will bless us with the opportunity to be parents and to have a healthy baby to love.

God has truely blessed us with each other and with wonderful family and friends!
We love you all!

Turning to God

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – Phillipians 4:7

There have been times in our two-plus years of marriage that Leslye has said I have a way with words – mostly in a good way ;). Many people have told me in my life that I am a great wordsmith, but at times like this, sometimes the right words seem to escape me – so excuse me if I babble a bit.

It is amazing to me how the whole process of life works. Most of the time, we take a lot of things for granted.

Every morning we get up, we take a deep breath, we take a shower, brush our teeth, eat, work, eat, spend time doing this or that, brush our teeth again, sleep and then get up and do it all over again.

God has blessed us with talents and has given us the opportunity to use those gifts to bless others. And sometimes we take that for granted as well.

I have to confess that being 32 years old and an expecting father scared me a bit – as I suppose it scares everyone when the news comes.

I was scared that I wouldn’t be the wonderful dad my father was and is to me and eventually – if God so blessed us with grandchildren – the wonderful grandfather mine was to me as well.

I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to give my child everything he/she needed or that I wouldn’t always be there for the “big” moments in life. I was scared that I wouldn’t be there to help my awesome wife do all she needed help with over the years. I know that missing things is a part of parenthood because you can’t be around for every significant moment all their lives.

I want my children to know God and find Him and follow Him and live only for Him, because that is what I have tried to do in my life, and I hope that is passed down to his/hers.

Several weeks ago, we got happy news. Les took a home test and then a blood test to find out that we were to be blessed with a bundle of joy.

Of course, quickly, you get attached because this is your baby. Then on Tuesday, our world was rocked. When we found out that the sonogram was not what we wanted to see, our hearts were broken and our tears of joy turned to tears of fear, anxiety and grief.

Today, we found out that it is mostly certain that we have had a miscarriage – we will have another sonogram next Wednesday to confirm, but the hormone levels went down instead of doubling like they should have over the 40-48 hour period.

Through this whole waiting roller coaster we have been on since Tuesday, I have done my best to look at the positive side of things while also trying to prepare myself for the worse. And today, my biggest fear – that of losing what is to be our child – has come to pass.

The doctor said that if it was going to happen that the first trimester is the best for Leslye. And that this was God’s way of saying that there was something wrong with the chromosomes.

That doesn’t make it any easier, but I know God is in control, and I have done my best to give this all over to Him since Tuesday evening. I know that He is my Rock and my Shield, and I am doing my best to lean on Him and hide behind Him.

I am doing my best to also hold up my wife – knowing full well she is holding me up as well and that God is the true One holding us up.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” – Romans 15:13

We want to thank all who have been praying in earnest for us over the last few days – and we ask that you continue to do so. They are truly appreciated.

For not having much to say, I know I have said a lot. As most of you know, I like to talk and write, and I guess this is my therapy to some extent.

I fully believe that God will one day give me the chance to be scared again. I welcome that chance when it comes - and can promise you I won't take it for granted.

We know we are surrounded by a great number of people that love us, and we love each of you, thank you for loving support and leave you with this simple prayer to our God as we turn this all over to Him:

Father, hear the prayer we offer,
Please take us in your loving arms and wrap us with your gentle presence.
Give us the comfort as only You know how and the peace to navigate through these stormy waters.
We know you are God, and we praise you for the blessings you have given.
We put our trust, our faith and our hope in You, your Son and your Spirit – for only you can see us through yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Amen

Prayers Needed

As many of you already know, we had our first sonogram today. I had hopes of posting sonogram pictures this evening to share, but instead I am asking for your prayers.

We did not get to see or hear what we thought we would today. We first got concerned when the sonogram tech said that she was not seeing what she should be seeing for 8 weeks. The good news is that there is a sac and a yoke and it is in the uterus. The concern is that it is not as developed as it should be and that I am pretty sure about the dates. It was very hard for both of us to see and hear. The doctor came in and told us the next thing to do is blood work to see my hormone count. So, I went to the hospital and did the blood work today and will go back Thursday evening for more blood work. If the hormone level increases then I am pregnant and not as far along as I thought and they will monitor and do another sonogram. If the hormone levels do not increase then there is the possibility of a miscarriage. So, we will not know anything until Friday. So now it is time to pray and wait.

I expected today to be a day with tears of joy, but now I have tears of the unknown and of fear. Those of you who know me well know that tears do not come easy for me, but they have been flowing this evening. I know that I need to try to stay positive so I am trying to focus on the positive. That was the doctor's advice, it is just really hard to do. We love and pray for this baby daily and will continue to do so even more in the coming days.

Please pray for the baby, my health, and our marriage as we go through this together.

The Announcement

Before the song and the blog, we made the big announcement to the grandparents-t0-be! We called and told them that we had to come to Abilene to run a few errands and we wanted them to meet us for dinner. So, my dad and mom (?? and Starkye) came from Snyder and Bill and Donna(Pawpaw and Nana) met us at TaMolle's. As we were eating chips and hot sauce. Joey said, "You might want to borrow these so you don't get your clothes dirty." Then Joey and I pulled out the "I Love Grandma." bibs. Of course that was followed by some squeals!!


Then the grandparents decided that we needed to go to Kohl's to buy this baby some clothes!!


There were lots of cute things found, but we only left with the yellow and green (neutral colors) I Love Mommy! and I Love Daddy! sleepers, the duck bathrobe, and the I'm A Hug Waiting to Happen! onesie. Starkye and ??? and Nana and PawPaw will make sure this grandchild is well dressed!!

Same song, new verse...

So a couple of years ago when I was putting together the slide show for our wedding rehearsal, I wrote a song and surprised Leslye with it at the end of the slideshow.

It's been a while since I picked up my guitar, so long in fact that the tune was waaaayyyy off.

But I wrote a third verse to the song and recorded it for all to hear.

It's not perfect, but it is ours. Listen and tell us what you think:

One More Game!

On our way home from the SSS weekend, we decided to take advantage of half off Rangers tickets and go to one more game! Jason, Jami, Jaden, and Jaxon were also going to the game so we met up with them for some fun in the centerfield park.We enjoyed most of the game from our seats in the corner box. In the bottom of the 7th, Jami called and said the people next to them had left. So, we headed down to 4th row by the Rangers dugout to watch the rest of the game.

The view from the 4th row.

Jaxon imitating CJ Wilson's mustache when CJ was called into pitch.

Way to go Rangers! Leslye (7-0) and Joey (8-0)

While we were taking pictures after the game, one of the security guard standing on the field tossed Jaxon a ball. It was very exciting! We all had a great time at the game!

Swings, Shopping, and Swimming

This weekend we had a wonderful time with my family and swings (Ranger baseball game), shopping and swimming. I started to add "Sillyness" as a 4th "s" word because we always have so much fun and laughter when we are all together! This is the 3rd year that we have all gotten together for Gran's birthday at the Boyd Bed and Breakfast! Thanks to Daniel and Heather for the hospitality!

Thursday night we all met at the Rangers game! It was Abbye and Kenna's first! It turned out to be such a nice evening plus the Rangers won! Here are a few pics of the game:

Thanks to the Rangers several homeruns hit during the game, we got to see fireworks several times! Abbye loved the fireworks!

Kenna loved the fireworks!
Kenna took a break from watching the game to read with Andra!


Abbye also had some book time with Gran! Maybe they thought they were at the library instead of the ballpark! :) They do both love to read!

The Girl Cousins: Heather, Amy, me, Courtney, and Brooke

Gran and the cousins

Way to Go Rangers! Leslye (6-0) and Joey (7-0) - Ranger wins with us!

Friday we went to Ikea and Joey played the part of "Driving Miss Daisy" - driving Gran! He thought he would be funny and go through the kid tunnel! They are 2 of the most important people in the world! :)

Friday and Saturday were filled with shopping Sam Moon, Ikea, Outlet Mall in the morning and the pool and good food in the afternoon and evening! It was a great time!

We had a little detour on our way home Sunday! More about that later!

Cool in the Pool

Thursday, I headed to Snyder and then on to Lubbock for a Pool Party at Courtney's neighborhood pool. The plans were for a warm and sunny pool party complete with homeade ice cream, but after a few cloudy and rainy days, we had a cool pool party and homeade ice cream. Courtney, Amy, Abbye and I were the only ones brave enough to enjoy the cool water. Once we adjusted to the temperature it wasn't that bad. I don't think it bothered Abbye one bit. She is quite the little fish!!

After swimming, Abbye showed off her cycling skills!

It was a fun evening with family!

From Hot to Cool

A few weeks ago we visited the hot San Antonio Riverwalk...

This weekend we visited the cool, indoor Gaylord Texan Riverwalk.

I went to the Frog Street Educational Conference at the Gaylord. Since I was the only one from my school going this year, Joey went along with me. While I attended the conference on Friday, he played golf and went to the pool. Then Friday night, we enjoyed the fireworks over Lake Grapevine from Level 5 of the parking garage. The had it all set up for firework viewing. After the fireworks, we walked around and the hotel and looked at all the beautiful landscaping (even the dirt is pretty!), model trains, and pieces of art. Saturday, I went back to meetings and Joey went back to enjoy the pool and hung out around the hotel while waiting for me. During my lunch break, we took walked around for some daytime pictures! It is such a neat place to visit and to stay!

Joey and his photography eye took this neat picture!

3 Cheers for the Red, White, and Blue!

Can you believe it is July? Summer is going to quickly! Last night I finished my 4th of July decorating and tonight I am working on some 4th of July goodies!

Enjoy your celebration of America!